Thursday, January 22, 2009

Caroline Kennedy, considered to be among the front-runners for the United States Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, yesterday withdrew her name from consideration for the seat. New York state Governor David Paterson had been reported as intending to name her as Clinton’s replacement this Saturday.

Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, issued a statement at midnight saying she had quit her bid because of “personal reasons”.

A close associate of Kennedy, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that the decision was not related to the recent health issues of Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Caroline Kennedy’s uncle. The senator suffered a seizure Tuesday while attending a luncheon with the newly inaugurated U.S. President Barack Obama in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. He was rushed out of the event in a wheelchair and taken for treatment to Washington Hospital, where he remains. In May 2008 he was diagnosed with brain cancer, which required an operation.

The New York Post has reported that Kennedy withdrew her bid because Paterson was not going to choose her for the position. Citing the anonymous source, the Post said that “her poor performances in media interviews and in private sessions with various officials” is Paterson’s reason for not appointing her to the position. Paterson will reportedly make his decision by Saturday, January 26.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is the highest-profile candidate still up for consideration for the last two years of Clinton’s term. Cuomo, who has not commented on this recent turn of events, was the housing secretary during former President Bill Clinton‘s time in office, and in his current role as attorney general has overseen nation-wide reforms for student loans and participated in limiting Wall Street corporate spending.